It Just Depends…

Finally they began walking toward Misery Valley. Low redbrick houses lined the street. There were a few small stores, but the town seemed sleepy—almost deserted, Tony thought. They only met a few people along the way. The first was an old man who was struggling down the road using a cane; next was a young woman pushing a double stroller with two pale, sleepy-looking toddlers in it. They all stared at Tony and his father as though they were ghosts.

Even Tony’s father seemed to notice. “Strange place!” he said. “I don’t think a lot of strangers come here.”

“At least not during the day,” Tony said, smiling to himself.

But, of course, his father didn’t get the joke. “Come on, let’s hurry up,” he said. “The sooner we get out of Long Suffering, the better.”

But it took a while before they had left the town behind them. They were now walking down a paved country road so narrow that two cars couldn’t pass each other. But no cars came—during the hour and a half that they walked down the road, not a single car passed.

Strange! thought Tony, and then felt that uncomfortable, oppressive feeling again that he’d had earlier when they’d talked about wolves.

“Where is this Wolf’s Den?” he asked. “Hopefully not by the ruins!”

“Are you worried about the ruins?” his father asked cheerfully. “I think ruins are the perfect place for an exciting, unusual vacation!”

“Yeah, sure, but not for camping!” said Tony firmly.

“Why not?”

“Because…” Tony considered what he was going to say. He couldn’t tell his father that he was afraid of the little vampire’s thirsty relatives, who had moved into the ruins along with Anna and Rudolph.

“Because you never know who might be living there!”

“Living there? Like who?”

“Like… like vagrants.”

“Vagrants?” echoed Tony’s father doubtfully. “Do you think a vagrant would settle in a half-ruined building two hours from the nearest town? No one would live there voluntarily!”

No human would, Tony agreed silently. And even the vampires hadn’t gone to Misery Valley voluntarily.

“Don’t worry,” his father interrupted Tony’s thoughts. “The Wolf’s Den is quite far from the ruins. Shall I show you on the map?”

“On the map? No! That’ll waste even more time!” Tony said. Gritting his teeth, he added, “The main thing is that we don’t walk so far again!”

“Do your feet hurt?”

“Not just my feet!” Tony felt like pretty much everything was hurting: his back, his legs, and his feet. Under normal circumstances, he would have refused to go any farther a long time ago! “If I didn’t already have flat feet, I’d definitely have them after this vacation!” he grumbled.

“My feet hurt too,” his father confessed. “But I’m impressed that you’ve held out for so long without complaining!”

“Well,” Tony said. “It always depends on why you’re doing something, and for whom,” he added, thinking of Anna.

Flattered, his father reacted to Tony’s comment with a smile. “It was a really good idea of your mother’s to have us go off on our own. We’ll be there soon!” he added, after glancing at the map. “Do you see the bend in the road ahead? Just after the bend, there’s a path that branches off and leads directly to Misery Valley.”

Once they got there, they easily found the path, which took them through a pine forest. A wide, lush green valley, dotted with wildflowers and covered in small hills, opened up in front of them.

And at the far end of the valley lay the ruins.